Uwe Johnson (1934-1984) grew up in the small town of Anklam, Germany. In 1959, shortly before the publication of his first novel Speculations About Jakob, in West Germany, Johnson emigrated to West Berlin, leaving the East behind for good. His next three novels, The Third Book About Achim, An Absence, and Two Views, followed in quick succession. Johnson lived in NYC from 1966 until 1968 with his wife and daughter. It was during that time that Johnson began work on Anniversaries. Once published, the book was quickly recognized in Germany as one of the great novels of the century. He died in Sheerness-on-Sea, UK, shortly after Anniversaries was published, at age forty-nine.

Damion Searls is the author of The Philosophy of Translation, forthcoming in 2020. He has previously collaborated with Paul Reitter and Chad Wellmon on Friedrich Nietzsche’s Anti-Education and has translated some forty books, including, for NYRB Classics, works by Patrick Modiano, Alfred Döblin, Nescio, and Robert Walser.